Machine for channeling soles



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

C. OHABOT.` MACHINE FOR CHANNELING SOLES.

Patenged July 3 (No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.- C. CHABOT.

MAGHINE FOR GHANNELING SOLES.

Patented July 3, 1883.

UNITED STATES 'PATENT Ormes.

CYPRIEN, CHABOT, OF FHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR CHANNELING SOLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 280,576, dated July 3, 1883. Application filed January 24, 1881. Renewed March 6, 1882. Again renewed November 27, 1882. (No model.)

To all 1072/0171, t may concer/L:

13ek it known that I, CYPRIEN GHABOT, a citiv guiding of the-sole as it is fed through the machine, to properly regulate the depthof the thread-slot cut in the sole, and to so construct the knife for cutting the thread-slot that said knife will be strong and durable and capable of being readily sharpened.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of sufficient of the machine to illustrate my improvements, the machine being adapted for cutting the thread-slot in the sole; Fig. 2, a front view of the machine 5 Fig. 3, the same with the knifeslide and its bearings removed and with the work-table and gearing detached 5v Fig; 4, a plan view of part of Fig. 2; Figs. 5 to 9, detached views of parts of the machine; Figs. 10, 11, and l2, views illustrating the cutting-knives and the character of the work performed thereby Fig. 13, Sheet 2, adiagram illustrating the operation of the feeding devices 5 and Figs. 14 to 19, inclusive, views illustrating the construction of the slot-cutting knife.

A is the main frame of the machine, which forms part of a column or standard, A', and has bearings for a shaft, B, the front end 0f which carries a bevel-wheel, a., vthe projecting rear end ofthe shaft being furnished with pinions b and d and an operating crank or handle, e. The bevel-wheel a gears into a pinion, a, forming part of a sleeve, f, the latter turning on a pin, f/, which projects from a lug on the frame A, and is inclined, as shown in Fig. 1. Secured to the upper end of the sleeve f is a disk, g, the upper face of which is made conical.

A frame, D, is pivoted at its rear end to the frame A, the front end of said frame D being under the control of a spring, E, and a lever,

F. The spring E tends to depress the frame D, and the tension of said spring is regulated by the adjustment of a set-screw, 71. One arm of the lever F bears on the frame D, and the other arm of said lever is connected by means of a link, hf.' and rod h2 to a treadle suitably located, whereby the front end of the frame D can be elevated when desired.

To bearings in the frameD is adapted a tubular shaft, G, the front end of which carries a serrated feed-wheel, m, a spur-wheel, b', being carried by the rear end of said shaft and gear` ing into the pinion b. The pinion d gears into a spur-wheel, d, secured to the projecting rear end of a shaft, H, which is adapted to the hollow shaft- G and projects from the front end of the same, the projecting end of the shaft being provided with a serrated feed-wheel, u, similar to the wheel m of the shaft G. The pinions b d and spur-wheels b d are so proportioned that the speed at which the surface of the feed-wheel m travels will be somewhat greater than the surface speed of the wheel n. The spur-wheel b can, however, turn independently of the shaft G under the circumstances described hereinafter, said spur-wheel being composed of three rings, c, c', and c2, Fig. 9, the central ring, c, being keyed to the shaft and adapted to recesses in the outer rings, c and c2. The ring c has external teeth adapted to those of the pinion b, and is provided with an internal thread adapted to the threaded periphery of the ring ci, so that by screwing up or unscrewing said ring c2 the degree of friction may be readily governed. Vashers, of felt, leather, gum, or equivalent -material, are by preference interposed betweenthe ring c and the rings c and ci, so as to afford a good frictional surface.

A gage-plate, z', is located in respect to the disk g as shown in Figs. 1, 5, and 6, the frame A being slotted for the passage of the coniin- IOO ' of a lug on the plate l).

to suitable vertical guides in the front end of the f 'ame A. rFhe slide i* is recessed for the reception of a plate, l), Figs. 1, 3, and 7, which is secured to the slide by means of a bolt, s, passing through a vertical slot in the slide, the plate l? being hung to a lever, S, one end of which is slotted for the reception of a pivot-pin, z, on the frame A, the opposite end of the lever being y adapted to a slot in a bar, XV, which is free to reciprocate vertically in guides in the frame A. When in use the lower end of the bar W' rests upon the shoesole, and is maintained in contact with the same by the action of a spring, w, upon the plate P,tl1e tension of this spring being regulated by an appropriate,set-screw. \"Vhen the frame l) and the feed-wheels m and a are elevated or depressed, the bar XV and knif'e M are likewise elevated or depressed, owing to the contact of the projecting end of the shaft H with arms on the bar \V. (See Figs. 3 and 7.) The arm has, however, a slight play independent of the feed-wheels.` The slide N can be adjusted vertically in respect to the plate P by manipulating a set-screw, y, which is adapted to a threaded opening in the slide,

and has an annular groove for the reception (See Fig. 7

In preparing the machine for work the knife M is so set in respect to the bar Wf that when the latter bears upon the top of the shoesole the point of the knife will penetrate to the proper extent beneath the surface of the same. rlhe frame D is elevated, the shoe-sole introduced into its place on the disk g, with the edge of the solebearing against the gage-plate fi, and the frame l) is then allowed to descend, so that the sole is clamped between the feed-wheels m a and the disk q. The feed-wheels being then rotated, the sole is fed forward, the knife M penetrating the sole to the extent permitted by the bar lV, and thereby cutting the threadslot in said sole. As the surface of the feedp wheel m moves at a somewhat higher rate of speed than the surface of the feed-wheel a, there is a constant tendency of the edge of the sole to move in the direction ofthe arrow, Figs. (5 and 13, so that said edge is kept firmly pressed against the gage-plate i without any attention or manipulation on the part of the operator, the guidance of the sole as it is fed through the machine being thus rendered automatic. The curved surface of the sole, however, constantly varies in radius, as will be observed on reference to Fig. 13, Sheet 2, so that while a portion of short radius-such as the heel or toeis being fed to the knives the point a: must travel at ahigher rate of speed in respect to the point a" than when the side of the sole or other part of greater radius is bein g acted upon, the two points nv a." in this ease moving at almost the same speed, hence, if the surface speed of the wheel m is so much in excess of that of the wheel a as to effect the proper pressure of the sole-edge against the gage while acting on the heel or toe portion of the sole, the excess of speed would be too great when the wheels are acting on a portion of greater radius, and there would be a tendency of the wheels to cut or tear the surface of the sole. For this reason I use the friction-clutching device before described for connecting the spur-wheel b tothe hollow shaft G, which carries the feed-whecl m, so that as soon as there is any undue resistance to t-he feeding action of the wheel iny the spur-wheel. b will slip and the movement of the wheel m will be retarded, the feeding action of said wheel being thus accommodated to the portion ofthe sole which is being acted upon. As the thickness of the sole varies, a vertical movement is imparted to the presserbar XV, and this movement is transmitted l through the medium of the lever S to the plate l) and knife-carrying slide N, the movement of the said slide being always less than the movement of the bar, owing to the fact that the plate I is connected to the lever S at a point closer to the fulcrum of said lever than the connection ofthe bar NV.

In order that the point of connection of the plate l and lever S may be varied, l provide the plate and lever with several pairs of holes, to either of which the connecting-pin may be adapted. By this means the depth of the thread-slotis always proportionate to the thickness of the sole. For instance, if the knife M is set so as to cut a slot an eighth of an inch deep when the lower end of the bar W is bearing upon a portion of the sole one-quarter of an inch thick, an increase in the thickness ofthe sole to one-half of an inch would cause the bar to rise one-quarter of an inch, the knife M rising to a somewhat less extent, owing to the connections above described, so that the depth of the slot in the half-inch portion of the sole would be oneeighth of an inch plus the difference between the extent of rise of the bar lV and that of the knife-slide.

The cutting-knife M, Figs. 10 and 11, is pcculiarly constructed, and forms one of the features of my invention, for, although it consists of a straight bar of steel, thc cutting portion is so formed that the slot cut inthe sole is partly horizontal and partly inclined, this result bcing attained by so beveling the back of the knife that when the latter is held in an in clined position in the machine the cutting portion at the point will be horizontal, as shown in Fig. 10. The mode of making the knife will be understood on reference to Figs. 14 to 19, Sheet 2, Figs. 14, 15, and 16 representing, respectively, a perspective view, edge view, and back view of the knife before being beveled, and Figs. 17, 18, and 19 being corresponding views of, the finished knife. r1he end of the bar M is first sharpened, as shown in Figs. 14 to 16, so as to present a straight cutting-edge, c; but if the knife so constructed were held in the inclined position shown in Fig. 15, an inclined slot only would be cut in the sole. Hence I bevel the point ofthe knife from the back, as shown in Figs. 17 to 19, so that when IOO IIO

the knifeis held in the inclined position shown in Fig. 18 the cutting-edge o of the beveled portion of theknife will be horizontal, and will cause a corresponding shape to be imparted to the Vbottom of the slot cut in the sole by the knife. By this means I am enabled to cut in the sole a slot possessing all the advantages of the usual curved slot without the necessity of using a curved knife, which is fragile and difficult to sharpen.

It will be evident that the knife M, constructed as above described, can be made as strong as desired, and can be readilysharp-Y ened on an ordinary grindstone without the exercise of special care er skill.

rIhe differential feed-wheels m n may be used in connection with a knife or knives for cutting a channel in the edge of the sole, as well as with the knife M, and the slide carrying the flatter knife can be operated in a manner different from that shown without departing from the main feature of this part of my invention. For instance, the plate P may in some cases be dispensed with and the slide N connected directly to the lever S, and the said lever S may be operated from the projecting end of the shaft H, instead of by a bar, W. The use of said bar is preferred, however, as its lower end will not'sink into soft or spongy leather to such an extent as the serrated feedwheels 'm a.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, in a shoe-sole channeling or slotting machine, of a work-supporting disk or bed, a gage for the edge of the sole,.a cutting knife or knives, and two feed-wheels, one of which has a higher surface speed than the other, and both adapted to act upon the same surface of the sole, whereby the edge of the sole is automatically held in contact with the gage, as set forth. g

2. The combination, in a shoe-sole channeling or slotting machine, of a work-supporting disk or bed, a gage for the edge of the sole, a 1

cutting knife or knives, and two feed-wheels, m and n, the wheeln having a definite rotating 4movement and the wheel m being dependent for its rotation upon a frietional driving device, all substantially as specified.

3. The combination of a work-supporting disk or bed, feeding devices, a knife-carrying slide, N, a upresser-bar or equivalent device resting on the sole, and a lever interposed between the said bar and the knife-slide, whereby the depth of the slot cut by the knife isvaried to accord with the thickness ofthe sole, as set forth.

4. The combination of the work-supporting and feeding devices, the presser-bar W, or its equivalent, the lever S, the plate I),connected thereto, and the knife-carrying slide N, secured to said plate l?, so as to be adjustable vertically thereon, as set forth.

. 5. The combination of the knife-carrying slide N and its grooved set-screw y with thev plate I),having a lug adapted to the groove of said set-screw, as set forth.

6. The combination of the work supporting and feeding devices, the movable frameD,car

rying said feeding devices, the knife-carrying point or beveled portion of the knife will ocl cupy a horizontal position and the slot cnt by the knife will be partly horizontal and partly inclined, as set forth.

' 8. In a sole-channeling machine, tlie'combination of the feed-wheel shaft G with the spurwheel b', composed ofthe tapered ring c, clamping-rings c and c2, and intervening washers, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificati on in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

H. L. FULENwiDEn, HARRY SMITH. 

